Why Tires Matter: 2024 Mustang GT Walks a Hellcat at the Drag Strip

Despite a significant power deficit, the Mustang uses superior traction to beat the Hellcat at the drag strip.

The 2024 Mustang GT makes up to 486 horsepower. The Dodge Challenger Hellcat Widebody makes 717 horsepower. Advantage Dodge. The Challenger was built for the drag strip. That is why the car exists. Just about every piece of marketing around the Hellcat revolves around it winning on a drag strip. The new Mustang GT is no slouch in the quarter mile, but that is not its main focus. The Mustang is fun in the corners as well. So, in a quarter mile drag race the more powerful, and drag strip focused Hellcat should have no problem dispatching the Ford, right?

Well, a video recently posted on the StangMode YouTube channel shows an S650 Mustang GT crushing a Challenger Hellcat at Maple Grove Raceway. How can that be? It’s simple really. Winning a drag race is not just about power. If that was the case, there would be no reason to actually race. You would just put the cars on the dyno and whichever one made more power would be declared the winner. But winning an actual race depends on the driver behind the wheel as well as the ability of the car to put its power down to the ground. This race is a perfect illustration of how important traction is in a drag race. The Ford has it, and the Dodge does not.

The Cars

The Hellcat and the Mustang GT are both nearly brand new. They are also both nearly stock, with one major exception. The Ford has an aftermarket MBRP exhaust, which adds little to no power. But the key modification is the set of Mickey Thompson ET Street S/S tires. The Hellcat is rolling on a set of Pirelli P Zeros. The Zero stands for the number of times you will win a race on this tire. Ironically it was Pirelli that 30 years ago launched the iconic ad campaign “Power is nothing without control.” The phrase could not be more accurate. The Hellcat has the power. But thanks to the P Zero tires, it struggles to put it to the ground. Thanks to the tire setup the Ford has a major advantage.

Drag Strip Race One

The Mustang GT demolishes the Hellcat in this race. From the light the Ford jumps to a multiple car length lead that the more powerful Hellcat simply can’t recover from. The Mustang ran a 12.107 at 117.74 mph. The Hellcat did a 12.646 at 108.02 mph. That is a pretty solid beat down. Can the Hellcat save face in race number two?

Drag Strip Race Two

For this race the driver of the Hellcat decides to hand some control over the car. He uses launch control to help get the big Dodge off the line. It certainly helps. The Dodge gets a much better launch and is just slightly ahead until the very end when the Dodge driver lifted for some reason and that allowed the Ford to win again. But the fact that a Mustang GT that is down over 200 horsepower can even stay close is incredible. It really shows just how important the tire and the traction is in a race situation.

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